Mail-bag-delivering apparatus.



J. C. BLANTON & D. l. SEXTON. Mm BAG DELIVERING APPARATUS.

APFLICATION man JUNE a. 1916.

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J. C. BLANTON &.D. J. SEXTON.

MAIL BAG DELIVERING APPARATUS.

APPLICATIO'N FILED JUNE 3. HHS.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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JOHN

CARLYLE BLANTON AND DOUGLAS JOHNSGN SEXTON, OF FREEMAN, WEST VIRGINIA.

MAILBAG-DELIVERING APPARATUS.

Application filed June 3, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN C. BLAN'roN and DOUGLAS J. SnX'roN, both citizens of the United States, and residents of F reeman, in the county of Mercer and State of West Virginia, have invented a new and Improved Mail-Bag-Delivering Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

General objects of our invention are to provide improved means for transferring mail from. a car to a stationary stand at a station or the like, or from such a stand to the car without mutilating the mail orthe bag; to provide an apparatus of the indicated character involving the minimum expense for its constructionand operation, and to provide an apparatus that will deliver a full bag with equal facility and precision as with a bag deliver two or more bags at one time.

More particular objects of the invention are to provide bag-holding and releasing means on the car and stand so constructed as to hold the bag steadied on the delivering arm and which will readily respond to the bag detaching means on the ear or stand; to provide a mail bag-supporting arm so mounted on the car as to be conveniently adjusted in a projected position for receiving or delivering a mail bag and securely sustained in such position; and to provide folwreadilv and conveniently withdrawing the said arm to a position adjacent to the interior of the car for the manual placing and removal of the mail bag.

()ther object. as well as the advantages 0] our'improved construction will appear as the description proceeds.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification in which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a sectional plan view on the line 1 1, Fig.2;

Fig. 2 is a front view of a mail bag-delivering apparatus .embodying our invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of means to hold the mail bag-supporting arm in projected position for receiving and delivering mail;

Fig. 3 is a' transverse vertical section of the devices carried by the car;

.Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view Specification of Letters Patent.

partly full, and which will Patented Feb. 13, 191?. Serial No. 101,623.

showing the means for retaining the mail bag on the car or stand for detachment by the receiving means;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the means for retaining a received mail bag;

Fig. (3 is a detail in showing a modification of the means on the car for holding the mail bag-supporting arm in a projected position for delivering or receiving a bag;

Fig. 7 is a transverse vertical. section on the line 7-7, Fig. 6.

In carrying out our invention in prac tice in accordance with the illustrated example, the car 10, it will be understood, may be of any approved construction, having a door 11, here conventionally indicated.

A horizontal ported on the car across the doorway at the front by any suitable means such as brackets 13. The shaft, at the center, is broadened and formed with a transverse hole 14 in which the mail bag-supporting arm 15 is slidable. Preferably, on the shaft 12, friction rollers, 16, are provided at the back above and below the arm 15. The arm 15 has a suitable handle 17 at the inner end for manually sliding the same in the opening 1st of the shaft 12, and on said arm are an inner stop collar, or equivalent for mation 1S, and an outer stop collar 19, or the like, whereby to limit the sliding movement of the said. arm in either direction.

At the outer end of the arm 15 is a cross arm 20 having at one end a. retaining hook 21. The opposite end of said cross arm is formed with a head, designated generally by the numeral 22, adapted to support a mail bag for delivering the same. the head being provided witl a retaining device des ignated generally by the nmneral 23. for releasablv holding the mail lmg-suspemling means.

To hang the mail bag on the head 22, a ring 24 is provided having a snap hook adapted to engage a ring 26, which is held. by a strap 27 on the mail bag 29, said bag having guide rings 28 for said strap.

The head 22 includes a central forwardly projected member 30 and two diverging side members 31. The side members 31 are formed at the front ends with vertical notches 32 to receive upstanding members 31 on the rin 2i, the upper ends olisaid sectional plan view shaft 12 is rockably supmembers 04; being joined by a cross bar 33 on said ring. The arrangement is such that the cross bar 33 rests on the central member 30 of the head 22, thereby sustaining a suspended mail bag, and the engagement of the upstanding members 31 and notches 32 at each side, steady the ring 24: and prevents swinging of the same on a vertical axis.

The retainer 23 is pivoted as at 23 on any suitable attachment or formation 30 on the under side of the central member 30 of the head 22 to rock in a vertical plane, said rctainer having a forked formation presenting side arms extending upwardly at the sides of the member- 30. At the lower end, below the pivot, lhe retainer 23 has a de pending arm 3i) connected with which is one end of a retractile spring 37, the opposite end of which is suitably secured to the head 22 at the under side of the arm 30 or other fixed part of the head 22.

To retain the shaft 12 against vertical rocking movement wherel'iy to sustain the mail bag-supporting arm 15 in the pro jected position at right angles to the side of the car 10, we employ, in the form shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 2, a latch SS'pivoted at its outer end, as at 39, on the shaft 12 and adapted to be swung into a lateral notch 10 in a suitable fixture ll on the door frame of the car 10.

In the form shown in Figs. 6 and 7, a fixed latch arm 38 projects rearwardly on the shaft 12 and is receivable in a vertical notch 4L0 in a suitable fixture ll on the car at the door frame. A horizontal latch bolt 11 is mounted in the door frame to extend transversely through the fixture 1-1 above the latch 38 said bolt having an inwardly extending arm 11, whereby the bolt may be manually slid from the interior of the car to engage or disengage the latch 38. The arm 4:1 is adapted to slide in a slot 11 in the car. A compression spring 11F is coiled about the bolt ell" in a. pocket il-1" in the door frame, said spring abutting at one end against the end of said. pocket and abutting at the opposite end against a collar ill on the latch bolt.

By the described construction by grasping the handle 17, the arm 15 may be moved outwardly or inwardly through the shaft 12 from the full line position, Fig. 3, to the retracted position indicated in dotted lines at the left of said ligu re. Also, while grasping the handle 17 the arm 15 and shaft 12 may be rocked vertically to bring said arm to a position parallel with the side of the car and adjacent thereto as indicated in dotted lines, Fig.

A stand 412 is erected alongside 'of the track and is provided with a lower arm 43 and an upper arm as, projecting in reverse directions from opposite sides of said stand. The arm 13 has a retaining hook 45 at the end and a cross arm 16 rearward of said hook, said cross arm being pivoted at the center as at 47 to turn in a horizontal plane. Retractile springs 4L8 are secured each at one end to the opposite ends of the cross arm as and at their opposite ends said springs are secured to a fixed pin 19 or the like on the main arm 43.

()n the arm 1 1 is formed a head 22 in all respects the same as the head 22, including a retainer 23, corresponding with the retainer 23, whereby a mail bag 29 (Figs. 1 and 2), may be suspended by the described elements 25, 26, from the head. 22 of the stand.

When the arm 15 is projected to receive a mail bag, the book 21. of the cross arm 20 will readily pass into the suspending ring 2 t on the arm il of the stand 12, and the engagement of said ring 24lwith the arm 15 will release the said ring from the remaining device 23. Similarly, if a bag 29 be suspended from the cross arm 20 on the car, the hook 4-5 of arm 42-) on the stand 12, will pass into the suspending ring 2 1 until said ring strikes the cross arm 16 which will release the retaining device 23 and detach the sus pended mail bag. Any unequal contact of the ring 2-1 with the arm 46 will be taken care of by the springs 48.

The manner of suspending the mail bag and the means for engaging and releasing the same do not depend on W ether the mail bag is full or half full, nor on whether there are one or more mail bags held by the suspending means. It will be observed also, that there is a substantial correspondence between the means on the stand 22 and on the car, both as regards the delivering and receiving means.

It is to be understood that the term ring as applied to the element'24: is not intended to limit the device to any actually circular form but to include any equivalent open ring-like element ailfording an opening theretlniough for the detaching arm and lroin the liottom of which the mail. bag may be detacliably suspended, the said elements ha ring the side and transverse members at the top to engage with the co-engaging side and intermediate members on the head 22.

Having thus described our invention we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a mail bag-delivering apparatus, a mail bag-supporting arm, and a ring adapted to suspend a mail bag, said ring having approximately vertical members at the sides and a transverse bar joining the said mem bers, and the said supporting arm having a cross arm, one end of which presents, at the sides thereof, laterally projecting members adapted to detachably receive the vertical members of the ring, and an intermediate member forming a rest to detach ably receive the transverse bar of the rin 2. In a mail bag-delivering apparatus, a mail bag-supporting arm, a cross arm thereon presenting a centrally disposed terminal constituting a rest and diverging members at the sides of the cent 'al members and formed With vertical notches, a ring, means to suspend a mail bag from said ring at the bottom, said ring presenting; vertical members at the sides engageable in said notches, and a cross bar connecting said vertical members and adapted to seat on said rest, and means on the said cross arm yieldingly engaging the cross bar of the ring.

8. In a mail bag-delivering apparatus, a

F mail bag-supporting arm, a cross arm thereon presenting a centrally disposed terminal constituting a rest and diverging members at the sides of the central members and formed With vertical notches, a ring, means to suspend a mail bag from said ring at the bottom, said ring presenting vertical members at the sides engageable in said notches,

and a cross bar connecting said vertical members and adapted to seat on said rest, a retainer on the said cross arm yielding] y engaging the cross bar of the ring, the said retainer being pivoted on the said central terminal of the cross arm and having a fork formation presenting arms disposed at the sides of said terminal, and a retractile spring connected With the retainer below the pivot and with the said cross arm.

l. A mail bag-delivering apparatus in cluding a mail bag-supporting arm having a central seat for a mail bag-suspending device, and having members at the sides of said seat; together with suspending means adapted to carry a mail bag, the suspending means including an element adapted to rest on said seat, and presenting members at the sides of said element adapted to detachably engage the members at the sides of the seat.

JOHN CARLYLE BLANTON. DOUGLAS JOHNSON SEXTON.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

